Three Techniques to Improve Your Fall Foliage Trip

Today I’m going to give you three very important techniques that will help you minimize bad fall foliage experiences. We all know you love coming to New England and finding great fall foliage. But during 2005, I heard the wailing of the masses across New England about how unfair Mother Nature was for raining out those on vacation. (I know because I was in Maine on my vacation and I was one of them) It wasn’t funny, I cut my trip short and the rain stopped before I left Maine. Hmmm… Was that Mother Nature laughing at me???

So today we’ll explore three techniques that might help you minimize the worst effects of inclement weather during late September and October.

You might also read this article on finding peak fall colors.

Considerations

First, every family taking a vacation will be different, from young/old to kids/no kids, so I can only talk in the broadest terms. The first questions I ask folks are:

What are their dates?
- (generally, your vacation dates determine the location of your trip)
What are the ages of the people in the group? (kids generally aren’t happy spending all day looking for fall colors,).
- So before you plan long hours in the car crisscrossing New Hampshire looking for peak fall foliage, look for things for them to do. (before you tell me no one would do that) I had someone tell me they planned 300 miles per day with two young kids in the car. I do believe this would have corrected itself because how many times can you hear “Are we there yet?” before you rethink that “all-day driving plan”…
What things do you like to do?
- We have oodles of different museums, more farms than you can shake a stick at, and if you’re a hiker we have some decently challenging mountains, a stretch of coastline that will keep you busy for years, and everything in between. Check your dates because while some parks are still open in late Sept and early October, places like Clark’s Trading post (great for families) close just after Columbus day. This means you need to plan your dates by when they are open.

The three keys to successful fall foliage vacations, Flexibility, Zone Planning, and a secret method!

If you have been a long-time reader, none of these “keys” will be shockers. I have written about them over and over and be warned because I’m going to ask you to follow links to those articles and then come back.

The first two go hand in hand. Flexibility and Zone planning are two common-sense approaches to creating your vacation itinerary. Confused? Ok, look at it this way.

First, flexibility is great if you have time and can travel during the week. From Monday through Thursday (in most years) you can locate a place to stay during the afternoon and stay only a night and drive to your heart’s content. The next afternoon you repeat and see what you are near, and make some calls. Everybody “Prefers” to do it this way. No reservations and freewheel it based on where the colors are.

Most people try to pick their hotel by where they think the peak fall colors will be. So they reserve their lodgings and start watching my reports and the Weather Channel and the local soothsayer down the street to see if they should cancel or move their reservations. This is the lottery version, and very stressful. I can’t tell you to be at this hotel/motel/B&B on the 4th of October. There you will see beautiful fall colors. I could give you a maybe and be close(ish).

Instead, look at it this way. Based on history and what this year is looking like you choose a couple of locations and these are based on being “close” to where the colors should be. This is what Lisa and I do. I look at all the weather facts at my disposal and where my dates for vacation fall and I make my choices based on that. I usually choose possible locations and make reservations by June. If at this point you are saying “NO! My hotel must look out on peak fall foliage color!,” then please leave because I can’t tell you where that hotel is.

What we can do is pick a place that is between where the northernmost point of color will be and the southernmost point (in math terms the “mean” point or average).

So your “Zone” is based on your arrival date and picking the center where the least amount of driving will take you into fall colors (peak or otherwise, let’s just leave “Peak” out of it for now).

So for grins, let’s pick the horrific Friday to Monday that is Columbus Day weekend (CDW). This is as I’ve said a thousand times the sweet spot for fall foliage. Prior to CDW, the sweet spot is usually small and harder to pinpoint.

But if the weather and other conditions cooperate, this weekend the sweet spot increases in size to cover half of New England.

It does not mean that from the White Mountains down to Central Massachusetts will be peak (far from it), but in this area, you will have a higher probability of finding good to great fall colors.

Zone planning

What I want you to do is pick a location east or west of the White Mountains for CDW. If for example, you choose Gorham NH. You would be at the intersection of Routes 2 and 16 and able to quickly go N/S/E/W in search of color. Or your zone could be for these dates over in Western NH just west of Sugar Hill. Now you have easy access to I-93 and all the back roads leading to Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom down into Woodstock. All are very driveable in under one hour depending on where the fall color is!

Flexibility

This pertains to having leeway in your schedule. If you are coming up for a week or longer then you could book two or more locations. Maybe you could book a room more northerly for 3 days and another more southerly (150-200 miles at most). Maybe you want to take in the coast for a relaxed time, and then I would start north at the beginning, and then go to the coast. The general rule is the coast is the LAST place where the fall colors arrive.

Now! The secret method of finding and enjoying the fall colors…

Two knights fighting at King Richards faire in Carver Massachusetts

You will rarely read this technique anywhere else, It’s my own personal technique so when we go on vacation. I have Lisa pick places that she wants to explore where ever we are. Then I will build in a lot of “slop” into the timing. This way while we’re on our way to a specific event or museum or festival, and if we find the glorious color, we have time to stop.

Horse in a farm yard on a rainy day in Vermont

This leads to the image at the left. King Richards Faire is not cheap, so if in mid-Oct you want to photograph the cranberry bogs then you could arrive early and make a day of the faire (lots of photo ops there also, and then since you are in Carver Ma, you drive around in the late afternoon sun and photograph the bogs!

We don’t try to cram everything into one day. If you are heading down into North Conway because it’s raining off and on, then allow time to take the side roads to get there. Maybe as you’re driving along you’ll see some horses in front of an old barn surrounded by maples of orange and yellow. [snap a memory] Now you stick your head back in the car and continue to Conway for shopping and walking through the shops and maybe a train ride.

Then later that afternoon the sun comes out and you take a drive up to Jackson. You stop at their covered bridge, go to the Wentworth for dinner, and then slowly head back to your hotel for the night.

Biggest foliage mistake!

The #1 mistake most people make is that they consider it a contest or race to squeeze in as much of the fall foliage colors as possible. I can tell you from experience that you miss out on so much running from tree to tree. Besides, it’s exhausting. I know because that is how I spend much of my Sept and Oct. 🙂 Do as I say, not as I do, in this case! I do it so I can tell you the great places to see and do, and you don’t have to waste your time doing it!

So that is it! Three techniques that if you can master, more or less of each of them, you will ensure you have a more relaxed fall foliage vacation. And when was the last time you came home from your vacation (any vacation) not needing a vacation to recover from your vacation? Face it, we have forgotten how to relax, but if you try to build fun and enjoyment into your foliage trip then you will at least have a chance to relax.

Finally!

There is a saying that I like, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans“, in other words, if you’re out having fun, exploring the New England countryside and you happen to find fall color, then it’s priceless.

I have a few more articles that you might find interesting to read (if not humorous) and they might answer a few of your questions.

Well, we’ve come to the end of another exciting chapter exploring the planning process for successful fall foliage vacations in New England.

If I’ve managed to raise more questions than answers please leave me a comment below or if you need to use the contact form on the main menu.

Have a great fall foliage day!

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

Visit my Amazon affiliate store for items that Lisa and I have curated for you. These items are either New England-made or things we think will make your fall foliage trip more successful.